Advice Please, Digital P&S (Off Topic)

[Honu-Hugger]

I'd like to buy a decent Sony or Canon digital point and shoot as a gift for a friend. At the moment she is a dedicated Kodak disposable box camera user but she is also computer savvy -- although she doesn't care much about cameras I think she could warm up to the right small and simple digital. Can anyone recommend an easy to use, no bells or whistles Sony or Canon digital that my friend might actually be pleased to use in place of these box cameras? I'd like to keep the cost low -- around $200 if possible. I'm in an area without camera shops (tiniest of towns) and sure would appreciate any suggestions. Thank you in advance.

 

[tajart]

i've been using a sony cybershot dsc u30, a total p&s with very little to control. it is 2megapixs.
it is very tiny as well. i'm sure it has been replaced/upgraded. it was 200. you can look up sony's website and check them out. i've been pleased with this for what it is. i also recently upgraded to a nikon 5400 and it seems very nice at 5mp and lots of control options and it does raw files.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

One of my friends just "upgraded" from his Olympus 1.3MPixel camera to a new ~4 Mpixel Olympus. He was shocked by the increase in Latency; with release half-depressed, red-eye reduction off, "everything ready", the new camera had almost a 1 second time-lag between taking the shot. The old camera was closer to 0.1sec under the same condition. He researched it a bit, and indeed that is what the test reports showed for this camera. His solution was to write it off to experience and buy a new camera.

You might want to read the test report in regards to latency when selecting. It seems that there must be a disgruntled embedded systems programmer out there writing idle loops into camera control mechanisms to make people go back to film, but it was not me.

 

[taffer]

Curious that you mention this now, I've been using the Canon Powershot A20 that I got from eBay for $37. It's a 2.1 MP and the latency is not that bad, you can even do some street shooting atempts with it 🙂

http://www.pbase.com/taffer/dstreets

Probably you can still find the same basic camera under its current number (A40 or whatever they call it now) for an affordable price.

 

[Rob]

I tried playing with a friends Canon A60? A80? digital...very steep learning curve to it. It overexposed all flash shots too...He never figured it out and its still in its box.
I got the Nikon Coolpix 2200 for $140(now less) and it even comes with built in memory. I get great shots down to 1.5 inches away and the flash exposures are perfect. Much easier to use.

 

[Honu-Hugger]

Thank you all for your suggestions. It's such a vast market and hard to know where to start. My challenge is to provide a young lady who claims to not want a camera (yet always shows up everywhere with a disposable box camera) with something as easy to use that will hopefully produce better images. Nothing against the disposables -- they have their purpose, but the pictures she just sent are beautifully composed and otherwise excellent shots if it wasn't for all of the qualities disposables are noted for😀. Intimidation is going to be my major enemy -- if the camera is not dead-nuts simple to operate I'm afraid she will not take to it.

 

[berci]

I bought an HP R707 for my girlfriend and it's a fine camera with enough manual control and other fancy stuff.

 

[Kin Lau]

I have a Canon A70, very easy to use with manual overrides with a dummy "I'll do it all for you" mode as well.

There's also the Olympus non-zooming digicam's that are weather-proof with a sharp little lense and a nice selection of colours. The clamshell cover should make them fairly rugged too.

The biggest advantage of a disposable, is just that, it's disposable. You don't worry about dropping, losing, dunking/wetting it etc. You might consider getting her a "flea market" Canonet 28 or Olympus Trip 35 or one of those zone-focus Hi-Matics or Konica C35's or whatever else you can find with a good lense in the $10-20 range. The low price would give her the "peace of mind", since it's basically the same price as a disposable.

 

[Rob]

Kodak was making one of the simplist digital cameras a while back, I played with it and it was most like a point and shoot. Very few buttons, no zoom, got good reviews in its 2 MP class. Not sure what they have now...
Rob

 

[Rob]

Maybe a digital is not what she really needs...How about getting her a better film camera like an Olympus stylus? All of 3 buttons on my original one...You can get the Stylus EPIC for under $100 or I may let go of my Original stylus for a lot less...
Rob

 

[Honu-Hugger]

I have a Canon A70, very easy to use with manual overrides with a dummy "I'll do it all for you" mode as well.

There's also the Olympus non-zooming digicam's that are weather-proof with a sharp little lense and a nice selection of colours. The clamshell cover should make them fairly rugged too.

The biggest advantage of a disposable, is just that, it's disposable. You don't worry about dropping, losing, dunking/wetting it etc. You might consider getting her a "flea market" Canonet 28 or Olympus Trip 35 or one of those zone-focus Hi-Matics or Konica C35's or whatever else you can find with a good lense in the $10-20 range. The low price would give her the "peace of mind", since it's basically the same price as a disposable.

Very interesting suggestiions, Kin. I think she has no particular interest in film other than that's what is in the disposables -- she has everything processed to CD. And I'll admit my bias towards Sony and Canon because my wife loves her Sony DigiCam (video) and a pro friend uses the Canon S70 along with his full-on 17MP whatever it's called. Immersed in my tunnel vision I forgot completely about the Olympus line -- the camera you've mentioned sounds very promising, do you know the name or model number? Thanks!

 

[Honu-Hugger]

Kodak was making one of the simplist digital cameras a while back, I played with it and it was most like a point and shoot. Very few buttons, no zoom, got good reviews in its 2 MP class. Not sure what they have now...
Rob

Rob,
Thank you, too. Again, in my tunnel vision I also forgot about Kodak. My Dad, longtime Leica/Alpa/Retina IIIC user went first to a Nikon digital and now switched to a recent Kodak model. One thing I do believe she is ready for is to give up film and go to digital -- as I mentioned above she has everything processed to CD. Thank you all for these great suggestions -- in all seriousness, without some place to start "it's a jungle out there" when it comes to digital P&S😀!!!

 

[Kin Lau]

Very interesting suggestiions, Kin. I think she has no particular interest in film other than that's what is in the disposables -- she has everything processed to CD. And I'll admit my bias towards Sony and Canon because my wife loves her Sony DigiCam (video) and a pro friend uses the Canon S70 along with his full-on 17MP whatever it's called. Immersed in my tunnel vision I forgot completely about the Olympus line -- the camera you've mentioned sounds very promising, do you know the name or model number? Thanks!

I love my Canon's also, both the A70 & the DReb, but I like weather proof nature of the Olympus Stylus (3 models with increasing MP's) and the fashionable/stylish one is called the Verve. These current models have zoom lenses. I think it was an older model that had a fixed lense.